Charles Czeisler of BWH Receives Public Policy Award from American Academy of Sleep Medicine

DARIEN, IL – The American Academy of Sleep Medicine presented the 2010 Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy Award to Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Charles A. Czeisler, MD, PhD, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS).

Czeisler has been a leading advocate for the development of sleep-related public policy that promotes safety and occupational health. His work has heightened awareness of the dangers involved with drowsy driving, and his research on the association between sleep deprivation and performance errors has been influential in shaping medical policy. He also is team leader of the Human Performance Factors, Sleep and Chronobiology Team of NASA’s National Space Biomedical Research Institute, which is responsible for developing sleep-wake schedule guidelines and related countermeasures for astronauts and mission control personnel.

“Dr. Czeisler is a renowned sleep scientist who is committed to the development of policies that promote public health and safety,” said AASM President Patrick J. Strollo Jr., MD. “His efforts have greatly increased awareness of the health risks involved with sleep deprivation and sleep disorders.”

Czeisler is chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass., and the Baldino professor of sleep medicine and director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He also is an affiliate faculty member in the neuroscience program at Harvard Medical School and the Health Science and Technology Program at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He received a doctorate in neuro- and bio-behavioral sciences and a medical degree from Stanford University. Czeisler earned board certification in sleep medicine in 1982 and became an AASM member in 1996.

Established in 1996, the Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy Award acknowledges an individual who has developed public policy that promotes healthy sleep. Retired U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) continually supported sleep-related initiatives and policy involving issues such as sleep research funding, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and driver fatigue.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is a professional membership society that is the leader in setting standards and promoting excellence in sleep medicine health care, education and research. Across the U.S. more than 2,000 AASM-accredited sleep disorders centers and laboratories for sleep-related breathing disorders provide the highest quality of medical care for patients with sleep disorders.

A joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, SLEEP 2010 brought together an international body of more than 5,000 sleep medicine specialists, sleep researchers, sleep technologists, allied health professionals and other health care professionals.